New behavioral health hospital coming to Eastern Carolina

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - An Eastern Carolina hospital system is partnering with other healthcare providers to create a new behavioral health hospital.

ECU Health and Acadia Healthcare announced Tuesday plans to build a state-of-the-art, 144-bed behavioral health hospital in the medical district of Greenville, less than a mile from ECU Health Medical Center. This new facility will provide North Carolinians with important access to behavioral health services and treatment from specialized clinical teams in a carefully designed environment.

The hospital is slated to open in 2025 and will be operated through a joint operation between ECU Health and Acadia, the largest standalone provider of behavioral healthcare services across the United States. Together, the organizations will invest approximately $65 million in expanding behavioral health resources in eastern North Carolina.

“This hospital will be a tremendous resource for our patients and our state, and we’re thrilled to bring a partner and a national leader like Acadia to eastern North Carolina,” said Dr. Michael Waldrum, chief executive officer of ECU Health and dean of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

ECU Health Behavior Health Services Executive Director Syed Saeed says, “One in five people over the course of their lives may suffer from a diagnosable psychiatric disorder. It’s important because evidence-based treatment exists but many times people do not have access to.”

It will include 24 inpatient beds specifically for children and adolescents with mental health needs. These beds will be the first of their kind in ECU Health’s 29-county service area and the only child and adolescent beds within 75 miles of Greenville.

Todd Hickey, ECU Health Business Strategy Development Chief says, “Our patients from even a physical health point are the continuum so many mental health patients have cardiac issues, stroke, neurological disorders that are all part of the care that they receive and the other side of that many patients that have cardiac issues, neurological disorders, also have an underlying mental health issue”

The new hospital will also serve as a teaching hospital, training students and residents from the Brody School of Medicine, many of whom will go on to practice in eastern North Carolina and carry forth ECU Health’s mission to improve health and well-being of the region.

Construction is expected to begin in 2023. Learn more about the partnership here.

Copyright 2022 WITN. All rights reserved.